The Transplant Games of America are traditionally put on once every two years for athletes who are organ donation recipients. Living organ donors can also compete. Hundreds, if not a thousand athletes from all over the country are expected to compete in a dozen sporting events including track, volleyball, golf, basketball, tennis and several others.

The games are held to promote organ donation and, according to the organization’s website “to show the world that transplantation is a treatment that does indeed work.”

After surgery, it’s important for lung cancer patients to aid their recovery with exercise. Exercise helps patients with fatigue and avoid common complications, like pneumonia. But the prospect of exercise can be daunting for many patients.

Every year, two million people in the United States get diagnosed with skin cancer, and 50,000 of them have melanoma.

Early detection is important for successful treatment, but regularly seeing a dermatologist to monitor skin health can be expensive and inconvenient.

Enter UMSkinCheck. The University of Michigan Medical School debuted the free app earlier this month. Dr. Michael Sabel, an associate professor of surgery at U of M, was the primary physician involved in the project.

Gov. Rick Snyder says he’ll continue to push the Legislature to create a place online to comparison shop for health insurance. The health care exchanges are an element of what’s required under the federal healthcare law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republican leaders in the state House say they’re in no hurry and plan to hold hearings before making their next move. The governor says time is growing short to comply with the law, and the state risks losing its share of federal funds to enact its exchange.

Some public health officials would like to drop the requirement for parental consent for a vaccine that prevents a sexually transmitted virus. But a new University of Michigan poll shows 57 percent of parents want to have the final say in their adolescent children's health care.

Human papillomarivus -- or HPV -- can lead to cervical cancer in women and some head and neck cancers in men.

The need for more primary medical care providers will increase as the Baby Boomer generation ages. Now another state university has joined the effort to fill the gap.

Physician assistants -- or PAs -- do many of the same things doctors do: They can perform physical exams, order lab tests, write prescriptions, do some procedures and assist in surgery. They do all this under the supervision of a doctor.

Interlochen Public Radio reports that vacationers heading up to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore should be on the lookout for ticks this year, as some could be infected with the Lyme parasite.

The University of Michigan Taubman Institute is rewarding doctors who turn lab discoveries into medical treatments.

The first winner may have found a cure for aneurysms in people with Marfan Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. That could, in turn, unlock treatments for more common diseases.

Dr. Hal Dietz of Johns Hopkins University used to work with kids with Marfan Syndrome and other inherited diseases that damage blood vessels. But he got so frustrated with how poor the available medications were, he set out to find better ones himself.

The AP is now reporting that more Michigan homes and businesses --around 400,000-- lost power this week:

DTE Energy Co. says about 210,000 of its customers were without power Thursday after a new round of damaging thunderstorms made its way across the state, knocking down trees and power lines. Since Tuesday, DTE says about 300,000 of its customers have been affected.

A confluence of Heat Advisories in 34 Michigan counties, drought-like conditions in the southern half of the state, and relaxed consumer firework legislation could make this year's Independence Day celebrations more dangerous than usual.

The AP reports that two Lansing-area communities have postponed tomorrow's annual firework shows because of warm and dry weather that's settled in across the state.

Michigan officials are urging people to use caution with fireworks and outdoor fires as some areas face what's described as dangerously dry conditions.

Michigan has to decide whether to expand its Medicaid rolls by up to a half-million people starting in 2014. The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision on the Affordable Care Act struck down a portion of the law that would have required states to expand the program or risk losing all federal aid.

Michigan hospitals support Medicaid expansion. They spend billions of dollars each year providing charity care for adults without health insurance.

The governor's office said the order is a step to implement Michigan's Autism Spectrum Disorders State Plan. According to a 2009 issue paper concerning the plan, autism diagnoses have dramatically increased amongst children over the past several decades.

The AP reports:

The council will have 12 gubernatorial appointees.

Snyder and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley pushed hard to win passage of a mandate for insurance coverage for autism treatment for children. Insurers are reimbursed through a $15 million autism coverage incentive fund.

Calley's daughter Reagan has been diagnosed with autism.

Michigan's upcoming budget also provides for Medicaid coverage of autism treatment for children through the age of 18.

Hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents already have benefited from the health care law passed in 2009, according to the federal government. Some examples:

More than 23,000 Michigan seniors and people with disabilities have saved $17.6 million this calendar year on prescription drugs because of the law, an average of $757 per person. The money goes to help residents with medical costs after they hit the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap, the so-called "doughnut hole."

More than a half-million Michigan seniors have received a free preventive health care service so far this year.

Around 1.8 million residents now receive preventative services with no co-pay.

Around 57,000 more young adults in Michigan under the age of 26 are on their parents' health insurance plans.

Around 7,000 small businesses get federal tax credits for offering health insurance to their employees.

Six Michigan health centers have been awarded $3.7 million from the federal government to help expand access to care for 59,431 additional patients.

Around 114,000 Michigan residents will get $13.9 million in rebates from insurance companies this summer because of a rule that requires insurance companies give rebates if they don't spend at least 80 percent of consumers' premiums on medical care and quality improvement. The rebates will average $214 for 65,000 Michigan families.

Critics of the Affordable Care Act are winning the media battle. That's according to research by the Pew Trust.

The study says opponents of the health care overhaul had effective messages about what they call "big government." It says those messages were more effective than supporters' warnings about what they call "greedy insurance companies." The study also mentions that most of the news coverage focused on politics rather than explaining what the law actually does.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - Six new human embryonic stem cell lines derived at the University of Michigan are available for federal research.

University of Michigan Health System officials say in a release Thursday that researchers can begin using the stem cell lines to study the origins of diseases and potential treatments. U-M now has eight cell lines on the U.S. National Institutes of Health's registry, including five that carry genetic mutations for serious diseases including hemophilia B, Huntington's disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

It’s been nearly two years since an Enbridge pipeline ruptured near Marshall, leaking more than 800,000 gallons of heavy, thick tar sands oil into the river. Most of it has been cleaned up. What remains has sunk to the river bottom or dried up on the bank.